BIDEN DOES CALL HIM "CONVICTED FELON DONALD TRUMP" - 6.5.24

convicted felon Donald Trump. Literally crazy, mission accomplished. Now do it on camera. I want sound bites, because now there is more evidence it's working at It cannot be said too often, and it cannot be said by too many different democratic leaders, and it needs to be said by the President of the United States loudly and confidently and repeatedly. He's convicted felon Donald Trump. And oh, by the way, he is literally insane. I am not betting democracy on

one poll, on any poll, and particularly this one. It's conducted by a Canadian firm called Lege. Much of the sampling was before the guilty verdicts. Even if Leger is right on the money, it's not conclusive, but it is an indicator, another indicator, another big neon read letters flashing kind of indicator to keep calling him convicted felon. Leger's polls says one out of three Republicans wishes they were nominating somebody else. Among Republicans under the age of thirty five,

it's nearly half wishing they were nominating somebody else. The actual numbers are outliers. The point is not, like the thirty four convictions of Trump shattered at least part of the baseline assumption in his cult that all but a handful of Americans, those evil Demo socia fascia commucrats, all but them, they all support God Trump. The fact that

he is a convicted felon hits Trump cultists viscerally. It may, in fact be the closest they ever come in their entire lives to an honest understanding that they are in thrall to a criminal. It costs them sleep, it makes

them angry, it makes them uncertain. Now there is other polling suggesting that Trump's apologists are far more fired up about these convictions than are the Democrats and the Independents, that their fantasies of nowen gunning all of us may be as stupid as they sound, but their desire to symbolically machine gun all of us is being reflected in the pressure they are putting on the House and their state attorney's general to do something, anything, to strike back.

And ultimately that boils down to more donations, more soft voters going to the polls after all, more oomph, and more of a need for Democrats to pressure their electeds to hammer home the fundamental point here. So, once again, I cannot say this too often. Biden cannot say this too often because even the concept of Trump as convicted fellon Donald Trump is only a component of a bigger issue.

The President has sat down with Newsweek. Why who knows who in the White House still thinks Newsweek is some sort of access route to undecided voters or to anybody for that matter, But he sat down with two of their writers and they published the transcript, and in it the President comes as close as he ever has to an admission that the whole mindset of his incoming administration was wrong, maybe even naive, and that a lot of that mindset remains in place, and that it is as

much an obstacle to him defeating Trump again and saving democracy again, as Trump himself is an obstacle. Biden recounted for Newsweek his first G seven meeting quote, I said, well, America's back. Macron of France, by the way, looked at me and he said for how long? For how long?

And then Schultz and bill off Schultz of Germany said to me, what would you say, mister President, if tomorrow you pick up the London Times and found out that thousands of people stormed the British Parliament, broke down the doors, killed two Bobby to prevent the implement the swearing in

of a prime minister, a choice of prime minister. And it made me realize just how fundamentally what he allowed to happen, sitting in this room looking at that television for three hours and didn't do a damn thing said about America, and how much confidence people lost in America. There's not a I'm going to say, be careful what I say. There's not a major international meeting. I attended that before it's over, and I've attended many, many more than most presidents have in three and a half years.

That a world leader doesn't pull me aside as I'm leaving and say he can't win. You can't let him win. My democracy and their democracy is at stake. Exactly You're goddamned exactly right. Say that. Say it again. Say it at rallies, say it in speeches, say it in tiktoks, say it in case campaign commercials, say it in TV interviews,

say it in photo ops. And when you say it, when you say the world needs America to save its own democracy and thus to save all the other democracies, say that the first step to doing that is to

defeat convicted felon Donald Trump. Two further convictions. All right, a step back in Georgia, but a step forward in Wisconsin now, in which the fake Elector's prosecution has just grazed Senator Ron Johnson and may yet nail him felony charges of forgery against Kenny the Cheese, the Trump attorney Ken Chesbro and attorney and ex judge Jim Troopis, and the Trump muscleman Michael Roman, who started the landslide against Fonnie Willis in Georgia. This is the fake Elector's scheme

as it played out in Wisconsin. They did not indict Trump, They did not name him as an unindicted co conspirator. On the other hand, the Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Call told a news conference yesterday that the investigation is ongoing and he may seek further indictments. The key here is that while this has not been specified in those charges just says forgery, but the charging documents indicate that Chesbrote, Troopus, and Roman were attempting to get the fake elector's documents.

The forgeries to Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on January sixth. Johnson, you will recall, initially admitted somebody tried to get him something, but having the intelligence of a hairbrush, he was too stupid to realize that the trying part there was illegal and he was one of the illegals. And then somebody told him so he denied everything as it is again

optics visceral reactions. The first court appearance in Wisconsin will be September nineteenth, And if further reporting on this begins to dirty up Trump and Johnson, it can only help. In a vital swing state unlikely to have a trial before the election, you may not need one. Just get it in the headlines. And also on the subject of the law, I will report this and only this from the Hunter Biden trial in Delaware on charges of possessing

the name Biden. You may recall that the little Peter Navarro Aaron Boys scumbag Garrett Ziegler was one of the lynch pins in the laptop scam. Garrett Ziegler showed up to the courtroom in Wilmington yesterday and Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, later explaining that Ziegler has called her quote the most horrific Jewish slurs, went up to Ziegler and said, quote, you have no right to be here,

you Nazi piece of shit. Mister chairman, I'd like to nominate Melissa Cohen Biden for whatever office she's willing to run for. Speaking of the Garrett Zieglers and the Ron Johnsons and the Kenny the Cheeses, why have they done it? Why have they sold out this nation? For convicted fellon Donald Trump? At least we may have an answer. It

may be the answer if you're like me. That has been the drum beat behind all of these crises, whatever the latest crisis is, whatever the motives specific to that crisis might be, that's the drum beat in the background. Why why do they sell their souls for an idiot like Trump? Why do they sell out their country to lie to take the fall for an idiot like Trump? Why do they wore themselves out and do so for a guy who started as a moron and has since

worked his way down to near total mental incapacitation. Why why do they buy his excuses and then sell his excuses and ultimately provide his excuses? Why were they willing to try to steal an election for him, and when that didn't work, to try to foment a revolution for him, and when that didn't work, to simply put their own asses in jail, to try to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power? Why? And behind that? Why for this guy?

For this guy, a guy Hitler would have been embarrassed by a guy Stalin wouldn't have given two minutes to And finally, finally, finally, finally we have an answer why Cash. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalism nonprofit Pro Publica is now reporting that for at least eight of Trump's witnesses in the criminal cases against him, and the daughter of one of those eight, the look is bad, real real bad.

Can't yet prove cause and effect in court can't yet prove the witness tampering side of this, can't yet prove Trump ordered anything here or even knew about these let's use the word emoluments, that he even knew anything about these emoluments. But these nine people have to quote the Pro Publica seminal report received significant financial benefits, including large raises from him campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump's media company unquote.

From reading the report, and I encourage you to read it and reading the reaction to it, the story not only obviously hit the nerve in Trump world, but it's also obviously the string to pull on because, in advance of publication, one of Trump's infinite number of lawyers, all whom suck, warn that if Pro Publica quote continue their reckless campaign of defamation, Trump will evaluate all legal remedies. Ooh, that'll stop them. All of Trump's legal remedies, the ones

that have so far all turned out to be snake oil. Ooohoo. Here's the nine and what they got either connected to what they did for him or just an incredible coincidence of timing. Boris Epstein the timeline Pro Publica reports twenty twenty two Georgia case grand jury. He testifies favorably about Trump April twenty twenty three interviews with the Special Council.

August twenty twenty three, Trump's campaign goes from paying Epstein on average of twenty six thousand dollars a month to a new high of fifty three thousand, five hundred a month last October. Susie Wiles, Trump campaign manager, daughter of high I'm Pat Summer All. She's on the tape when he's showing off the top secret military maps. Remember that warns her she should not get too close to the maps, like they had cooties or something. From Pro publica May

twenty twenty three, she gets a twenty percent raise. June eighth, news of the tape comes out same month, or political consulting firm got a record high payment from the Trump campaign seventy five thousand dollars. And then later the Trump campaign hired somebody and made her the four highest paid staff around the campaign and twenty two thousand dollars a year. Her name Caroline Wiles. Well, that's a coincidence. It's not a coincidence. What do you mean, it's not a coincidence. Oh,

she's Susie Wiles's daughter. Margo Martin, also an alleged witness to Trump, showing people how big his classified document cash really was. The Pro Publica report making one hundred and fifty five thousand dollars a year, and then called to testify to the grand jury, and then suddenly making one hundred and eighty five thousand dollars a year. Dan Scavino, Trump's anti social media guy. Pro Publica's timeline for Dan Scavino.

Congressional investigators call him in August twenty twenty one. He stalls. Later, they give him a subpoena. He keeps stalling half a dozen extensions. Later there's a subpoena to go talk to the criminal grand jury. After that, Dan Scavino has given a seat on the board of Trump's Truth. Stalls again until May twenty twenty three, and according to SEC filings, then he gets a four million dollar executive promissory note paid in shares and a six hundred thousand dollars retention bonus. Yeah,

I wonder what he was retaining. Jennifer Little, a Trump lawyer, called to the grand jury to talk about when she was there and they wanted the documents back, and Trump said, shouldn't they just not play ball? And wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here? Little, according to ABC News, testifies and says she didn't remember him saying anything about not playing ball before she testified.

Per Pro Publica, she'd never been paid higher than one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars in one month March of twenty twenty three, two hundred and eighteen thousand since she testified, at least a million three in total. Evan Corcoran, the other Trump lawyer at the Don't Play Ball meeting. He testifies in March twenty twenty three. Pro Publica reports just days later his firm gets quote two payments to his firm, totaling seven hundred and eighty six thousand dollars.

The firm brought in a total of one point four million in that four week span, more than double its payments from any other comparable period. Steve Whitkoff, expert witness for Trump defending Trump's real estate valuations in the Trump Organization real estate fraud trial last year from Pro Publica quote two months after Wittcoff's testimony, Trump's campaign for the first time started paying his company for air travel three

hundred and seventy thousand dollars. Alan Weiselberg, Oh you know who Alan Weisselberg is and where he is right now? Four months after the New York Attorney General sued Trump for financial fraud in his real estate business, Pro Publica reports, Weisselberg got a two million dollars severance agreement with a non disparagement clause and language keeping him from voluntarily cooperating

with investigators. Wow. Justin incredible coincidence, well, actually nine nine incredible coincidences, and they kind of dovetail into this other story about the Epoch Times. Did you see this? A pretend news organization that spent more money promoting Trump on Facebook than any other group, that says, yeah, there'll be a rapture, and in the rapture, all non Trump supporters will die, one of whose reporters breached Whitehouse security and

handed Trump a still unexplained envelope in twenty eighteen. The Epoch Times that funded Larry Elders race for president this year up to five million dollars, and elder got approximately how many primary votes approximately approximately none Okay, the chief financial officer of the Epoch Times has now been indicted and charged with participation in an international money laundering scheme worth at least sixty seven million dollars. All you need

is cash. Just a coincidence. Oh and one other incredible coincidence. You didn't see any of this from pro Publica in newspapers this week because the new editorial level at most of our newspapers a they are British. If the president would like to issue an order on immigration, they should stop British newspaper men from showing up in this country.

I think we would have learned that with Murdoch. The new editorial level of all the newspapers think it's not worth it to run the news if their paper can't take credit for that news, or it's not worth it if taking credit for the news could get them in trouble with somebody, you know, like how the Washington Post

broke and then hid the Alito flag scandal. And as always, where possible, a little comic relief, speaking of newspapers screwing themselves into the ground of The New York Times printed a focus group about the campaign, evidently under the mistaken belief that this is nineteen eighty eight and we all want to know what the focus groups are thinking. Worse yet, it was a focus group moderated by Frank Lunz. The Times evidently under the mistaken belief that it has not

been alleged that Frank's hair is not his own. Anyway, I'm just going to read these excerpts, which I'll remind you were commissioned by and printed in the New York Times. And I just hope somebody did this in hopes of slipping it past an editor so that the rest of us would conclude that you know, we're doomed if we

don't get out and vote, raise money, convict Trump. We don't do that, democracy is dead, and that if we want to start worrying about twenty twenty eight, we better start giving all voters a ten question sanity test before letting them vote. Ahem. Quoting moderator Frank Luntz, Ben Europe, can you explain why undecided? Ben forty two, Texas White college advisor. A couple of people have mentioned a massive judicial conspiracy of everybody going after him. Okay, let's talk

conspiracy math. Here. The sheer number of people who would have to be working together to get something like this working just boggles the mind. And have you ever tried to get four people to agree on what to order for pizza? I just don't see this working out. And at the end of the day, Okay, fine, okay, I'm going to side with Jonathan on this one, saying, what's

the big deal about bribing Stormy Daniels? But I want to president, who's going to be able to cover up a one hundred and thirty thousand dollars bribe to Daniels. If he can't pull that off, I'm not gonna trust him with the nuclear football. This seems like such an easy thing for him to screw up. I'm kind of leaning towards Biden. Now, Ben continued, We're all regular people

with regular jobs. If any of us all did like one thousandth of what this guy did for being on trial, the financial stuff, the forms, the bribes, the meeting with people, we all would have been fired. We all would have been out on our butts applying for jobs at grocery stores or driving uber or whatnot. You're saying it's all like a political theater and farce and whatnot. But he was having an affair with a porn star, and not a particularly attractive one at that. There are so many

wonderful porn stars out there. End quote. Ben advises college students, we are doomed. Last note, Hey, Frank Lenz, did you ask Ben his opinion of the phrase convicted fellon Donald Trump, who did not get away with covering up his scandal with a not so wonderful porn star out there too wordy, not enough pictures for Ben. Also of interest here, sure, Major League Baseball just banned a twenty four year old utility infielder for life for betting on baseball games involving

his own team. But of course that has nothing to do with the main advertising on all baseball broadcasts now being for betting on baseball games. But more importantly, anybody noticed that Baseball also suspended for a year for gaming on baseball games a guy who pitched in three of the five World Series games last year. Anybody worried about that? By any chance? That's next? This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Overman stell ahead of us on this

all new edition of Countdown. Well, hell, I just mentioned Frank Luntz before the break. Why not take this opportunity to tell you all of my Frank Luntz stories, from the story in which he inadvertently got me the job anchoring Countdown on MSNBC to the story where he inadvertently got the president of CNN fired in things I promised not to tell coming up, but first, as ever, there

are still more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup of the misgrants, morons and Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute two days worse person in the world. The runner up worse the Republican National Committee Lara idiot, daughter in law Trump proprietor. The Boston Globe reported yesterday realized is probably a better term that for days. For weeks, four months. The website for the rnc's Republican convention in Milwaukee next month, you know the thing that's on convicted

fellon Donald Trump's schedule right after the sentencing. That website has used a beautiful background image depicting the skyline of Milwaukee where they're going to have the convention Milwaukee. Except Globe reporter Sam Brody noted, hey, that you don't look a thing like Milwaukee, And he did a little googling, and boy was he right. The backdrop photo of Milwaukee being used by the Republican Party was actually a photo

of Ho Chi Min's city in Vietnam, Ho Chia Min's city. Now, if you post a photo of Milwaukee and somebody screws up and it's actually not Milwaukee, but it's Minneapolis or Miami or something else that fits alphabetically near Milwaukee, Okay, I get it. You didn't get enough sleep, you screwed up. You typed in them, and you got Miami instead of Milwaukee.

But you googled Milwaukee and your computer memory corrected it to men as in Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam, and so you get a variety of great photos of the place they no longer call Saigon. What exactly have you been googling, Lara Trump and why they've changed it now? It is really Milwaukee? My god, how great would it be if all the Republicans left next month for Ho Chi Minh City? The runners up my old employers. I know, like that gives you anything resembling a clue about what

network I'm talking about? Well, I mean ESPN. Look, I understand that the boys are really really invested in this. Pat McAfee, the challenged guy they have on the air every day. Now, he's the latest thing that they think will prove that, No, the network isn't going to have to accept smaller audiences and older demographics for everything except live games forever and ever and ever to come, even

though that's the reality. Lower the profit expectations. Boys, But honestly, anybody else who ever worked there, if they had called the brand new savior of one of the few growth sports there is, the WNBA, if they had called quote one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar unquote, that person would have been at minimum suspended

or fired or suspended then fired. Trust me, talk about ESPN suspensions, I know what I'm talking about, especially with this guy Pat McAfee's record of platforming that's psycho Aaron Rodgers and attacking executives. I don't know how long has he been there, a year. He's got a longer rap sheet at ESPN than I did in three different tenures.

But now McAfee went on and he said that calling the Indiana fever rookie Caitlin Clark the B word, well, he meant that as a compliment about how she and nobody else has invigorated the league, but the use of the word was a massive f up by him. He said he meant it as a compliment, which is look a lie. There's no other word for it. You can't drop the B word into a discussion about the WNBA and mean it complimentarily. But management said, okay, now he's

made it worse. McAfee says he said a personal apology to Caitlin Clark via her team's media department, and he heard back at quoting him who was all good, amended as a compliment. Those are my attentions. Caitlin Clark did not fail disrespected, but a lot of people said I was disrespecting her. So McAfee has now used the B word on the air as part of his coverage of women's basketball on a network that carries women's basketball that was the original home of national coverage of women's college

national basketball. Then he has insisted it was a compliment. Then he apologized to the player for it even though he insisted it was a compliment. Now he's insisting the player is not offended by it. So who knows how this Pat McAfee will change the story today or what he will do next. Time to embarrass ESPN and the people who hired him there, one of whom will eventually get fired for hiring him, fired by the other two

people who hired him. I got a track record knowing about this stuff do over there, But our winners the worst Major League Baseball Commissioner, Rob Manfred, we all accept him. I guess saw this coming once baseball embraced legalized gambling. It's new advertising when there ain't much new advertising. And again, there isn't a corporation in the world, particularly in sports, that's willing to say, hey, maybe the growth period is

over for now. But for those of us who really didn't see this coming when baseball embraced legalized gambling, maybe that story of Shohei Otani and his interpreter and the interpreter's quarter billion dollars worth of bets on other sports that his interpreter got Otani to partially pay for, maybe that made the rest of us see it coming. Except

Rob Manfred. Baseball has now banned twenty four year old Venezuelan infielder outfielder took apeda Marcano of the Padres for life because he placed just a few bets with a legal sports book, a legal sports book bets legal bets on baseball, and baseball rules are you can bet on the other sports, but you can't ever bet on baseball.

But just a few, only two hundred and thirty one of them in October twenty twenty two, and then the back half of last year more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bets in totals, and the reason he was banned for life. Twenty five of the bets were on the Pittsburgh Pirates, and at that time he was also on the Pittsburgh Pirates automatic lifetime ban. But Baseball also suspended yesterday three other players for one year each for betting on games legally not involving their own teams.

And I swear I am way more disturbed by one of those stories than I am about Marcano. Last year, in the postseason, on eleven different occasions, the Arizona Diamondbacks called in a rookie lefty relief pitcher out of India University named Andrew Salfrank, and the commentators were extolling him, and he registered holds in four of his first eight postseason appearances. And you'd only come to the majors a month earlier, and he got a hold in the game

that sent Arizona to the World Series. And then he pitched in three straight games out of the five games they played in the World Series, and he didn't give up a run, he only gave up one hit. And he's banned for a year now because in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two, when he was still in the minor leagues, he bet once on a college ball game, and he made four bets on his big league teams games. His baseball bets totaled four hundred and forty five dollars

and eighty seven cents. I'm not making excuses for him, No betting on baseball four hundred and forty five dollars and eighty seven cents four hundred forty five million dollars in eighty seven cents doesn't matter. But why did he bet on these games? Until this guy Marcano got banned for life yesterday, there had not been an active player banned for wagering or even talking about wagering on his own team since Jimmy O'Connell of the New York Giants

in nineteen twenty four. Why has there been a sudden explosion of betting by baseball players on sports on baseball. Why did this poor idiot, Salve Frank just lose a year because he legally bet four hundred and forty five dollars and eighty seven cents. Do you think it might have something to do with the fact that I am every other commercial on every sports telecast at every baseball telecast tells you bet on this game. Right now, here's how you will win. You will win, you will win.

Marcano's done for life, Salve Frank. He should be okay in a year. But next time, when it isn't a utility infielder, or it isn't a guy who bet four hundred and forty five dollars and eighty seven cents while he was in the minors, When it's a star, or it's an umpire, or it's a World Series umpire, what do they do? Then? Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob I said, bet on game games, not baseball games, Manfred two days, worst person in the world that hods up sixty five?

All right? Since I brought up Frank Lunz and his focus group for The New York Times at the end of the A Bloc today, It's probably a good day to assemble my best Frank Lunz stories in one place, because Frank's gift and he's like one step removed from

practicing alchemy without a license. Frank's gift actually turned out to be accidentally essential in putting me on a new show called Countdown on MSNBC twenty one years ago and everything that followed at MSNBC and Yeah, you're welcome things I promised not to tell our number one story on

the Countdown and all my Frank Lunz stories. Let's flash back to that article by the writer Tim Alberta in The Atlantic that ended the Chris Licked presidency at CNN in early June twenty twenty three, although the damage will continue to shrink that network, and one of the moments that, had the piece been a video, would have gone viral was the scene in which Tim Alberta, the writer, is in the apartment of a USC professor who has convinced Chris Licked, head of CNN, to talk to sixteen students.

What follows is both maudlin and terrifying. To quote the piece, Chris was absolutely, positively, without question the right choice for CNN. The teacher told his students, motioning them toward the man seated in front of them. There is nothing more important in America to than trust. I'm praying that Chris is successful.

I want him to have this job for ten years, because anything less than ten years will not give him the opportunity to make the most important changes to the most important news source on the face of the earth. Now I have every faith that he will succeed, and every fear for this country if he doesn't. He turned to face licked. The teacher's eyes were watery. His voice was joked with emotion. My hopes and dreams are embodied

in you, he said. This was quite an introduction, especially considering the man who gave it, Frank Lunce unquote, Frank Lunce, Frank Lunz, Frank Lunz. Could there be somebody else out there named Frank Lunz besides that? Frank Lunz, The rabbit biased, subjective, Republican pollster who can make a focus group defend any conservative idea and then get up and sing, who let

the dogs out? The mercenary who has worked for every news organization, The man who every eighteen to twenty four months goes through a phase or an act in which he pretends to not be a conservative but just a middle of the road surveyor of the American landscape and

a professor at USC close USC. Immediately that was Chris Licht's mentor, the great flaming fraud that is Frank Lunz, the whore that is Chris LICKT Well, that's the missing piece, I guess in the Chris licked story, adored by beholden to one of the great confidence tricksters of America media and American politics. And let me tell you how I know that Frank Lunz once did his horror act on my behalf, or at least ultimately for my bade of it. In two thousand and three, I had gone back to

work for NBC Sports for a second time. I was going to do the Olympics for them from Greece the next year, and as a peace gesture towards my still angry ex employers at MSNBC, the head of NBC Sports, Dick Eversol, said, Look, they're having problems over there filling their shifts. They've got a couple of sick anchors and the guys are too stretched with the war coming up, Why don't you go over there and fill in for

the poor guy who's sick. While I was there February two thousand and three, absolutely no belief that I would stay at MSNBC for more than a week, they told me about a new show they were going to launch

called Countdown. And Phil Griffin, who had produced my original MSNBC show in nineteen ninety seven at nineteen ninety eight, who was my first producer in television at CNN in nineteen eighty one, who is now pretty much running primetime at MSNBC, in two thousand and three, he told me they were deep in negotiations to buy from ABC News the contract of their ideal host for this new show, Countdown,

Sam Donaldson. I blanched. Apparently, I was at the time working at ABC News in radio, and although I loved Sam Donaldson's work, especially when he was the White House correspondent, I knew firsthand that ABC was so desperate to get Sam Donaldson to quit that they had taken him completely off TV and they had stuck him on ABC Radio, and when that had not worked, they had just relegated his radio show to internet only. This is two thousand

and three, Internet only radio. I knew this because I had filled in for him on his Internet only radio show where we took calls for two hours, or should say, where we took call for two hours one person called in. The producer said that was about half the normal total. Now it was Phil Griffin who had told me this story. He blanched the job offers on Sam Donaldson's desk and on my bosses. He looked around the room. Would you do the show? Would you ever do another nightly show

for us? Would you do this this countdown thing? I shrugged. I guess sure. I mean it's so far it hasn't been as bad as it was five years ago. But you know, they're gonna have me go to the Olympics and do other sports stuff. I'll need the time off for the Olympics. You'll have to have a guest host. It's not till next year, right, It's like, yeah, not till next year. Oh oh god? Thanks? Okay, all right, well, well I know how to make this happen. Rainy, get me,

Frank Lunz. I only heard Phil Griffin's end of the Frank Lunz conversation. He told Frank Lunz and again I could not swear that it was Frank Luntz on the other end, But why would he make it up? Say you're calling I don't know Uma Thurman, just to pick a name out of a hat. Rain you get me, Uma Thurman, He told Frank Lunz of the crisis, He invoked the name of the then president of NBC News,

Neil Shapiro. You know Neil loves focus groups. Frank, give me a focus group that says it hates Sam Donaldson, that we should never hire Sam Donaldson. Give me another focus group that says it loves Keith Overman. Can you do it? By day after tomorrow? Great Frank Neil Shapiro's office called my agent to offer me the job as the host of Countdown, with the word with Sam Donaldson crossed out and with Keith Overman written in in crayon.

Three days later, Frank Luntz has lingered in American politics like a rash that won't quite go away. Remember the time Trump inadvertently revealed that when he says he believes in God, if he isn't just making that up. What he believes in basically is a god who works for Trump as a vice president. Vice President of I don't know, vice President of Creation something. When they asked Trump about his faith at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa

in July twenty fifteen. The moderator of the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa was Frank Lunz. He's ubiquitous. Trump said, people are so shocked when they find out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian, and I go to church, and I love God and I love my church. Frank Lunz then followed up with a softball of literally biblical proportions. He asked whether Trump had ever asked God for forgiveness for his own actions. I'm not sure I have, Trump answered, I just go on and try to do a better

job from there. I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't. Trump then explained to Frank Lunce that Holy Communion would suffice such situation. When I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and I have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible. Because I feel cleansed, cleansed. I think he's

mistaken the Holy Wafers for colon cleans. I think in terms of let's go on and let's make it right, the art of the deal. Indeed, Frank Luntz was there, polls and focus groups and research. They are the balloon animals of politics, and Frank Lunz he's just the balloon animal guy, guy who has seniority in the park. Right about now, I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Please send this edition of Countdown to somebody who doesn't listen. Don't send it to Frank Luntz.

Countdown musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Schanel Arrange produced and performed most of our music. Mister Ray on guitarist, based in drums, Mister Chanelle on orchestration and keyboards. It's produced by Tko Brothers. Other music, including some of the Beethoven compositions, arranged unperformed by the group No Horns Allowed.

Sports Music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two. It was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of v ESPN inc. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by Nancy Faust, the best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today is my friend Howard Feineman. Everything else this is pretty much

my fault. So that's countdown for this the one hundred and fifty fifth day until the twenty twenty four presidential election, the forty sixth day since convicted felon Donald Trump's first attempt at coup against the democratically elected government of the United States. Let's do what we can now to stop him from doing it again while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news warrants until next time, I'm Keith Olreman. Good morning, good afternoon,

good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Ouldreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.